Kirusa, the leader in voice and social media solutions for mobile users in emerging markets, announced a partnership with Makeba Creates, a leading celebrity agency in Ghana. This partnership enables top celebrities like John Dumelo, Efya, Mzbel, Reggie Rockstone, amongst others, to more personally engage with their fans in their own voice.Using Celeb Connect, celebrities can share their daily lives, thoughts, and emotions in their own voice with their fans. Participating stars can call or use smartphones to leave messages. These messages are then delivered immediately to fans, who can listen to what is happening in their most cherished celebrities‟ lives, in the celebrities‟ own voice, which creates a “Voice Twitter”-like experience.Ghanaian subscribers can see messages, call, and listen to what‟s happening over the phone, or on the web at vobolo.com, and can share with their friends on Facebook and Twitter. Further, the fans get an opportunity to speak and engage with the celebrities on-line and off-line.

The Celeb Connect service, powered by Kirusa‟s Vobolo™ social media platform, is currently available to mobile subscribers of Airtel, Tigo, and Vodafone in Ghana. Airtel and Vodafone users can dial 2510 and Tigo users can dial 1001 from their mobile and subscribe to the service.

There is a huge interest amongst Ghanaian people to listen to the daily happenings in the lives of their stars, with a whopping 860,000 people following John Dumelo, Efya, Mzbel, and Reggie Rockstone in the first few months. To share a perspective, these stars have 240,000+ followers on Twitter and 700,000+ on Facebook.

Makeba Boateng, CEO, Makeba Creates Ltd., states, “Kirusa‟s Vobolo platform is unrivaled in its state-of-the-art technology and innovative solutions. Our proficiency in our respective fields delivers a privileged service to the fans. Connecting celebrities to consumers is an inevitable development of the digital age. It has been happening online for many years now and using mobile voice is an added dimension.”

Mrinal Roy, COO & Executive Director, Airtel Ghana, adds, “We have seen a tremendous response to the Celeb Connect service on Kirusa‟s Vobolo platform. Our subscribers all over the country are excited at this new offering where they get an opportunity to hear their favorite stars; and also an opportunity to speak with them.

Inderpal Singh Mumick, Founder and CEO of Kirusa, shared his views on the collaboration and its overwhelming success. “Bringing together our respective expertise, we, along with Makeba, aimed at bringing people closer to the celebrities they admire, and to empower them to speak to the role models they idolize on screen. The response from celebrities and from Ghanaian people has been excellent.

We are in talks with religious, sports and political celebrities to present them on the Vobolo platform, and also intend to take the Vobolo platform to other African countries.”

“The Celeb Connect service is not only a dream come true for the fans, but also for us celebrities to connect with their fans. By providing a “Voice-Twitter”-like experience, Vobolo has brought us one more step closer to our fans, in a way not possible with any of the other social media platforms.

It is interesting to know how one‟s daily routine, feelings and emotions affect one‟s fans. They are a focal point of our celebrity existence. It is important for us to know their expectations from us. Kirusa has brought in an exquisite experience to the lives of Ghanaians, and Vobolo is a fantastic platform to stay connected with them”, added actor John Dumelo.